Tag Archives: Swindon Town

Terry Neill never found the right formula for a title tilt but when it came to cups he could do little wrong in the mid-years of his reign. 1978 saw the club reach the FA Cup final and League Cup semi-final, 1980 the FA and Cup Winners Cup finals. Neill’s Arsenal sides were obviously capable of heroics but also dropping some appalling clangers as cup exits to Swindon, Walsall and Rotherham attest.

This one went horribly wrong as Arsenal, two own-goals their downfall. Having retrieved a two-goal deficit, the visitors would reasonably have expected to go on and win.

t’s a match that is rarely mentioned but Swindon remain something of a bogey side for Arsenal. The Robins lost to eventual winners Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi-finals but not before giving them a scare, winning the first leg 2 – 1 at the County Ground and drawing level with their top flight hosts before going down 1 – 3 in the second leg at Molineux.

The lead-up to the fixture was relatively subdued which was quite surprising given that they were third in Division Three at the time, not having lost at home all season whilst only conceding five goals in their eleven games to this point, as well as having defeated Stoke City in a previous round. Arsenal though were 4th in Division One, forty-four places higher.